The Ja Morant run in Memphis is over.
After seven seasons, the Grizzlies are shipping Morant to the Portland Trail Blazers in a deal that brings back Jerami Grant and Kris Murray. Morant had been placed on the trade block in January, and the move finally came together as Memphis fully turned the page toward a new core built around Cam Boozer, Zach Edey, and Cedric Coward.
For a stretch, Morant was the face of everything Memphis wanted to be. The second overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft made two All-Star teams and earned All-NBA Second Team honors in 2022. He was one of the most electric players to wear a Grizzlies uniform, and right there with Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr., he powered the Next Gen Era that made the team so compelling.
Now the franchise has made its clearest statement yet. Memphis just selected Cam Boozer third overall in this year’s draft, and the Morant trade signals a full commitment to a different direction.
The decision lands with weight because Morant is still only 26, and he still has plenty of game left. But injuries and a drop in offensive efficiency over the last few seasons pushed the Grizzlies to this point.
There’s also the contract side of it. Morant had two years and $87 million left on his deal, and over the last three seasons he played in just 79 of a possible 246 regular-season games. This season, he appeared in 20 games and put up 19.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 8.1 assists in 28.5 minutes per contest.
The shooting numbers tell the rest of the story. Morant finished at 41% from the field and 23.5% from three.
Memphis had trouble finding a trade market for him, and there was concern the team might need to attach draft capital to get a deal done. Instead, the Grizzlies managed to move him without giving up any picks.
Grant gives Memphis a veteran scorer who has been in the NBA since 2014 and joined Portland in 2022. He averaged 18.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 57 games last season.
Murray arrives as well. The first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, a class that also included Grizzlies players GG Jackson II and Taylor Hendricks, averaged 5.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 57 games this season while making 15 starts for the Trail Blazers.
Time will tell if this is the right call.
In Other News...
Santi Aldama May Be Memphis Last Painful GrzNxtGen Decision
Santi Aldama has become the lingering piece of a Grizzlies era that is already almost entirely gone, and Memphis now has to decide whether to keep the versatile big man as part of the next roster build or treat him as another movable contract. With Ja Morant out of the picture and the front office still reshaping the books, Aldamas deal, which runs through this season and next with a team option on the second year, gives the Grizzlies some flexibility if they choose to shop him rather than hold.
Around the league, that sort of contract has started to invite speculation, and Memphis has been loosely connected to possible trade ideas that would send Aldama elsewhere in exchange for future value or roster balance. The New Orleans and Oklahoma City possibilities have both been floated in that conversation, which is a reminder that the Grizzlies are still working through the cost of their reset and may not be done making painful choices about which names from the last core survive the transition. [Read more 🡒]
Karim Lopez Faces His First Real Chance To Win Over Grizzlies Fans
Karim Lopezs arrival gives the Grizzlies another young piece to sort through after taking him 21st overall in the 2026 NBA Draft, and he comes with a profile Memphis tends to appreciate. The 19-year-old spent two seasons with the New Zealand Breakers in the NBL, where his physicality and passing flashed enough to make him a notable prospect, and now he gets his first real stage with NBA Summer League in front of him.
For Memphis, the appeal is obvious: Lopez already looks like the kind of wing-sized player who can do more than one thing, even if the shot and the on-ball creation still leave room for questions. Summer League gives him a clean chance to make a first impression, and if he translates the same toughness and playmaking he showed overseas, he could quickly become one of the more interesting names in the Grizzlies offseason mix. [Read more 🡒]